Maori Religion and Mythology Part 1

Maori Religion and Mythology.

by Shortland, Edward.

PREFACE.

The Maori MSS. of which translations are now published were collected by the author many years ago. The persons through whom the MSS. were obtained are now, with one exception, no longer living. They were all of them men of good birth, and competent authorities. One who could write sent me, from time to time, in MS. such information as he himself possessed, or he could obtain from the _tohunga_, or wise men of his family. Chapters iii. and iv. contain selections from information derived from this source.

The others not being sufficiently skilled in writing, it was necessary to take down their information from dictation. In doing this I particularly instructed my informant to tell his tale as if he were relating it to his own people, and to use the same words that he would use if he were recounting similar tales to them when a.s.sembled in a sacred house. This they are, or perhaps I should rather say were, in the habit of doing at times of great weather disturbance accompanied with storm of wind and rain, believing an effect to be thereby produced quieting the spirits of the sky.

As the dictation went on I was careful never to ask any question, or otherwise interrupt the thread of the being guided by the sound in writing any new and strange words. When some time had thus pa.s.sed, I stopt him at some suitable part of his tale: then read over to him what I had written, and made the necessary corrections-taking notes also of the meanings of words which were new to me. Chapters v. and vi. are with some omissions translations of a _Maori_ MS. written in this way.

Chapter ii. contains a tradition as to _Maori_ Cosmogony more particular in some details than I have ever met with elsewhere. My informant had been educated to become a _tohunga_; but had afterwards become a professing Christian. The narrative took place at night unknown to any of his people, and under promise that I would not read what I wrote to any of his people. When after some years I re-visited New Zealand, I learnt that he had died soon after I left, and that his death was attributed to the anger of the _Atua_ of his family due to his having, as they expressed it, trampled on the _tapu_ by making _noa_ or public things sacred-he having himself confessed what he no doubt believed to be the cause of his illness.

In Appendix will be found a list of _Maori_ words expressing relations.h.i.+p. It will be observed that where we employ definite words for 'father' and 'brother' the _Maori_ use words having a more comprehensive meaning, like our word 'cousin': hence when either of the words _matua_, &c., are used, to ascertain the actual degree of relations.h.i.+p some additional explanatory words must be added, as would be necessary when we use the general term cousin.

A short vocabulary of _Maori_ words unavoidably introduced in the following pages, which require explanation not to be found in any published dictionary, are also printed in the Appendix,-as well as a few selected _karakia_ in the original _Maori_, with reference to pages where their translations appear, as a matter of interest to some persons.

_Auckland, January, 1882._

CHAPTER I.

ARYANS AND POLYNESIANS.

The religious feeling may be traced to the natural veneration of the child for the parent, joined to an innate belief in the immortality of the soul. What we know of the primitive religion of Aryans and Polynesians points to this source. They both venerated the spirits of deceased ancestors, believing that these spirits took an interest in their living descendants: moreover, they feared them, and were careful to observe the precepts handed down by tradition, as having been delivered by them while alive.

The souls of men deified by death were by the Latins called "Lares" or "Manes," by the Greeks "Demons" or "Heroes." Their tombs were the temples of these divinities, and bore the inscription "Dis manibus,"

"Te??? ????????;" and before the tomb was an altar for sacrifice. The term used by the Greeks and Romans to signify the wors.h.i.+p of the dead is significant. The former used the word "pat????e??," the latter "parentare," showing that the prayers were addressed to forefathers. "I prevail over my enemies," says the Brahmin, "by the incantations which my ancestors and my father have handed down to me."

La Cite Antique par De Coulange.

Similar to this was the common belief of the _Maori_ of Polynesia, and still exists. A _Maori_ of New Zealand writes thus: "The origin of knowledge of our native customs was from Tiki (the progenitor of the human race). Tiki taught laws to regulate work, slaying, man-eating: from him men first learnt to observe laws for this thing, and for that thing, the rites to be used for the dead, the invocation for the new-born child, for battle in the field, for the a.s.sault of fortified places, and other invocations very numerous. Tiki was the first instructor, and from him descended his instructions to our forefathers, and have abided to the present time. For this reason they have power.

Thus says the song:-

_E tama, tapu-nui, tapu-whakaharahara,_ _He mauri wehewehe na o tupuna,_ _Na Tiki, na Rangi, na Papa._

O child, very sacred-very, very sacred, Shrine set apart by your ancestors, By Tiki, by Rangi, by Papa."

The researches of philologists tend to show that all known languages are derived from one original parent source. The parent language from which the Aryan and Polynesian languages are derived must have been spoken at a very remote time; for no two forms of language are now more diverse than these two are. In the Polynesian there is but the slightest trace of inflexion of words which is a general character of Aryan languages.

The Polynesian language seems to have retained a very primitive form, remaining fixed and stationary; and this is confirmed by the fact that the forms of Polynesian language, whether spoken in the Sandwich Islands or in New Zealand, though their remoteness from each other indicates a very early separation, differ to so small a degree that they may be regarded as only different dialects of the same language. The _Maori_ language is essentially conservative, containing no principle in its structure facilitating change. The component parts or roots of words are always apparent.

When we consider the great remoteness of time at which it is possible that a connection between Aryans and Polynesians could have existed, we are carried back to the contemplation of a very primitive condition of the human race. In the Polynesian family we can still discover traces of this primitive condition. We can also observe a similarity between the more antient form of religious belief and mythological tradition of the Aryans and that still existing among Polynesians; for which reason we think it allowable to apply to the interpretation of old Aryan myths the principle we discover to guide us as to the signification of Polynesian Mythology.

It was a favourite opinion with Christian apologists, Eusebius and others, that the Pagan deities represented deified men. Others consider them to signify the powers of external nature personified. For others they are, in many cases, impersonations of human pa.s.sions and propensities reflected back from the mind of man. A fourth mode of interpretation would treat them as copies distorted and depraved of a primitive system of religion given by G.o.d to man.

Juventus mundi, p. 203.

The writer does not give any opinion as to which of these theories he would give a preference. If, however, we look at the mythology of Greek and Latin Aryans from the _Maori_ point of view the explanation of their myths is simple.

This mythology personified and deified the Powers of Nature, and represented them as the ancestors of all mankind; so these personified Powers of Nature were wors.h.i.+pped as deified ancestors. There is no authority for any other supposition. With regard to the two latter theories above referred to it may be remarked that fiction is always liable to be interpreted in a manner conformable to the ideas prevailing at any particular time, so that there would be a natural tendency, in modern times, to apply meanings never originally thought of to the interpretation of mythology. Man in early days, ignorant of the causes of natural phenomena, yet having a mind curious to inquire and trace observed effects to some cause, formulated his conceptions on imaginary grounds, which, although now manifestly false and absurd, yet were probably sufficiently credible in the infancy of knowledge.

There is a notable mental condition of the Polynesian to which we desire to direct attention. The _Maori_ has a very limited notion of the abstract. All his ideas take naturally a concrete form. This inapt.i.tude to conceive any abstract notions was, it is believed, the early mental condition of man. Hence the Powers of Nature were regarded by him as concrete objects, and were consequently designated as persons. And this opinion is confirmed by the fact that the researches of comparative philologists give proof that all words are, in their origin or roots, expressive of visible and sensuous phenomena, and consequently that all abstract words are derivable from such roots. The absence, too, of all abstract and metaphysical ideas from Homer has been noticed by Mr Gladstone as very remarkable.

Max Muller, "Science of Language." Farrar, "Chapters on Language,"

p. 6.

I have seen it stated in print that the New Zealander has no sentiment of grat.i.tude; in proof of which it was mentioned that he has no word in his language to express grat.i.tude. This is true; but the reason is that grat.i.tude is an abstract word, and that _Maori_ is deficient in abstract terms. It is an error to infer that he is ignorant of the sentiment of grat.i.tude, or that he is unable to express that sentiment in appropriate and intelligible words.

ARYAN MYTHOLOGY.

The Aryans do not appear to have had any tradition of a Creation. They seem to have conceived of the Powers of Nature very much in the same way as the _Maori_ did,-namely, that the mysterious power of Generation was the operative cause of all things.

Hesiod in his Theogony relates that the first parent of all was Chaos.

From Chaos sprang Gaia (=Earth), Tartarus, Eros (=Love), Erebus, a dark son, Night, a dark daughter, and lastly, Day.

From Gaia alone sprung Ouranos (=Heaven), Hills, Groves, and Thala.s.sa (=Sea).

From Heaven and Earth sprung Okeanos (=Ocean), j.a.petus, Kronos (=Saturn), t.i.tans.

Hesiod also relates how Heaven confined his children in the dark caverns of Earth, and how Kronos avenged himself.

In the "Works and Days" Hesiod gives an account of the formation of the first human female out of Earth, from the union of whom, with Epimetheus, son of the t.i.tan j.a.petus, sprung the human race.

So far Hesiod's account may be derived from Aryan myths. The latter and greater part, however, of Hesiod's Theogony cannot be accepted as a purely Aryan tradition; for colonists from Egypt and Phnicia had settled in Greece, at an early period, and had brought with them alien mythical fables which were adopted in a modified form, in addition to the antient family religion of wors.h.i.+p of ancestors.

Herodotus a.s.serts that Homer and Hesiod made the Theogony of the Greeks; and to a certain extent this may be true, for the bard was then invested with a kind of sacredness, and what he sung was held to be the effect of an inspiration. When he invoked the Muses his invocation was not a mere formal set of words introduced for the sake of ornament, but an act of homage due to the Divinities addressed, whose aid he solicited.4

4 Hom. Il., 2-484. Invocat. to Muses:-

Tell me now, O Muses, ye who dwell in Olympus; For ye are G.o.ddesses, and are present, and know all things, But we hear only rumour, and know not anything.

The traditions prevalent in Botia would naturally be strongly imbued with fables of foreign origin; and Hesiod, who was a Botian by birth, by collecting these local traditions and presenting them to the public in an attractive form, no doubt contributed, as well as Homer, to establish a national form of religion, made up of old Aryan tradition and what had been imported by Phnician and Egyptian colonists.

Thus Zeus and the other Olympian deities formed the centre of a national religious system; but at the same time the old Aryan religion of wors.h.i.+p of ancestors maintained a paramount influence, and every tribe and every family had its separate form of wors.h.i.+p of its own ancestors. The prayer of the son of Achilles, when in the act of sacrificing Polyxena to the manes of his father, is a striking instance of the prevalent belief that the deified spirits of ancestors had power to influence the destinies of the living.

"O son of Peleus, my father, receive from me this libation, appeasing, alluring, the dead. Come now, that you may drink the black pure blood of a virgin, which we give to thee-both I and the army. And be kindly disposed to us, and grant us to loose the sterns of our s.h.i.+ps, and the cables fastening to the sh.o.r.e, and all to reach home favoured with a prosperous return from Ilium."5